The Denuvo anti-tamper digital rights management software that caused major slowdown and performance issues in Tequila Works’ RiME has been removed. The developers kept their word and released patch 1.01 recently as a way to honor their statement about excising Denuvo once it had been cracked.

In just five days crackers managed to bypass Denuvo, finger its insides like it was passed out by a roofie in a night club with a short skirt, and display all the goods to the general public. After realizing that Denuvo had been humiliated like a rapper trying to do a free-style battle against Eminem, Grey Box acquiesced and made a post on Steam stating that they have removed Denuvo. A rep for the studio wrote…

“We wanted to give you an update regarding the use of Denuvo anti-tamper software in RiME. Today, we got word that there was a crack which would bypass Denuvo. Upon receiving this news, we worked to test this and verify that it was, in fact, the case. We have now confirmed that it is. As such, we at Team Grey Box are following through on our promise from earlier this week that we will be replacing the current build of RiME with one that does not contain Denuvo. Please make sure your PC version of RiME has been updated, if it has not done so automatically.”

The post goes on to say that they will also have a traditional patch out for the public as well, addressing various bugs, glitches and any other performance issues not directly tied to the Denuvo software.

Previously they had argued vehemently that Denuvo was not DRM, and even on Denuvo’s site they attempt to state that it isn’t DRM, but the whole point of DRM is to manage the digital rights of software. And in this case, Denuvo was firing constant triggers to prevent tampering (thus managing the rights of users’ ability to tamper with the software) and it was slowing down RiME and causing lots of frame-stutter and performance hiccups. That’s pretty much managing (and monitoring) the access of a user’s digital copy. I have no idea how you could pedantically say it isn’t DRM.

I mean does the third-party software affect or limit how users can engage with the digital product and has nothing to do with the function of the product itself? If the answer is yes, then it’s DRM.

Anyway, frivolous definitions aside, the pirate groups were able to get their hands on Baldman’s crack, and now pirates can play RiME with the cracked version of the game without any performance issues whatsoever.

It’s hilarious to think that the vanilla version of RiME basically has a form of DRM that only works against legitimate consumers.

Regardless, version 1.01 for RiME is available right now, and it should automatically update your copy of the game if you have it on Steam.

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Billy has been rustling Jimmies for years covering video games, technology and digital trends within the electronics entertainment space. The GJP cried and their tears became his milkshake. Need to get in touch? Try the Contact Page.